KSRTC moves Supreme Court against Kerala High Court order to remove advertisements from buses

The Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) has approached the Supreme Court challenging an order of the Kerala High Court that directed the officers of the Motor Vehicles Department and the State Police to take action against KSRTC vehicles that exhibit advertisements [The Kerala State Road transport Corporation Represented by its Managing Director v. State of Kerala & Ors.]..The October 2022 order of the Kerala High Court that has been challenged was passed by a division bench on the suo motu proceedings initiated by it in the wake of the Vadakkencherry bus accident in which nine persons, including five school children died and over forty persons were injured.The special leave petition (SLP) moved by KSRTC through advocate Deepak Prakash, contended that the division bench had not placed the matter before the Chief Justice of the High Court to assign it to the appropriate bench, thereby violating the procedure laid down by the Supreme Court in State of Rajasthan v Prakash Chand & Ors..The High Court bench had noted that affixing such ads on the bodies of vehicles causes undue distractions to pedestrians and other drivers, and violates the provisions of the Motor Vehicles Act and Rules as well as the Court's directions in Saji KM v Deputy Transport Commissioner.However, the KSRTC in its appeal said that the High Court erred in attributing its own findings to a matter which pertains to public safety and policy, without any authentic supporting material."In all the major cities buses are carrying advertisements in its body and all over the world public and private buses carrying different types of pictures or inscriptions in the body of the buses. There is no scientific data available to show that advertisement in the body of the bus creates distraction to the pedestrians, cyclists and drivers of other buses, no experts conducted any study or submitted any report before the Hon’ble High Court in this regard," the appeal stated.It was also argued that the order of the High Court are in contravention of the mandate under certain provisions of the Kerala Motor Vehicle Rules and the Motor Vehicles (Driving) Regulations that enable the government to permit advertisements on state transport undertakings.In this regard, it was pointed out that an October 2020 Government Order permits KSRTC to display advertisements on its buses..The SLP said that even though the KSRTC lauds "judicial activism" and initiation of suo motu proceedings, huge prejudice is being caused to the Public Sector Undertaking.In this regard, the appeal reiterated the submissions made by the KSRTC standing counsel Deepu Thankan before the High Court that it has been facing tremendous financial distress over the past year.It was contended that the advertisements on its vehicles have been approved by the State government and generate approximately ₹1.5 Crore per month, which in turn helps the public to travel at nominal fares."The exhibits on the transport of the Petitioner Corporation, which have duly been approved by the state Government as per Rule 191 of the KMVR, 1989, are a source of revenue, which generate approximately 1.5 Crore Per Month, which helps the public to travel in the State at nominal fares," the SLP stated..On these, among other grounds, the KSRTC has sought an order from the apex court to stay the operation of the order of the High Court.